Our Trip To Brasil

Obrigado (Thank you so much)

2010-06-02T09:19:00.003-04:00

We have been home a 2 weeks now and it is time to close this chapter on such a wonderful life.

I want to say thank you so much to Elaine's family for all that they did for us. I want to thank Adriana for being our chauffeur from the moment we stepped off the airplane in Vitoria to the time we had to re-board to return to the United States. I may have teased Adriana a little bit when it came to her driving. But to be honest, her driving was fantastic. I'm glad I don't have to drive on the streets that Adriana faces every day.

I want to say thank you to Mr. Bellinelli for providing us with all the things he did for us. I am especially grateful for our trip to a Brazilian machine shop as well as the Sugar cane facility.

I want to say thank you for all the beer and wine that Mr. Bellinelli and Adriana provided. And a special thanks for the beer in the blue can. It had a familiar taste and I was glad to see it in the refrigerator.

I want to say thank you so much to Mrs. Bellinelli for her hospitality. I found myself overwhelmed at times by the amount of food laid before me each day. I really appreciated the caipirinhas that she made for me. They were my favorite drinks on our trip.

I really appreciated exploring the beach with her and finding the small creatures among the rocks.

Thank you so much Luciano for the nights that you paid for our dinners and drinks.

Thank you Luciano for the Ana Carolina T-shirts. I really do listen to her CD's every day on my way to work. I have almost memorized one of them by heart.

Oh yes and thank you Giovanni for your tours around the lake house and on the boat. It was a lot of fun going out on the boat with you and capturing the images at sunset.

Thank you all so much.

I look forward to seeing all of you again real soon.

Sincerely,

Jeff

2010-06-01T20:34:00.018-04:00

Well, we are home now. It would only be right to pick up where I left off on that last Friday when we went to spend our last weekend with the family at the lake house. It was our last chance to do everything one more time. Elaine and I jumped at the opportunity to go to the beach in the morning with Mrs. Bellinelli. We went to the beach four times. Each time was like a new experience. It was the first time I saw the beach and rocks and coral as the tide was out when we got there. Unfortunately I didn't bring the camera to capture this new experience. Next time I will travel with a lighter pocket camera. You just never know when a photo-op will present itself.
Mrs. Bellinelli took me on tour of the rocks. Exploring for the different sea creatures that lived in the coral and rocks. She knew exactly where to look to find some different crabs. Some that hid in shells and some that didn't. She showed me some algae that you really didn't appreciate until you picked it up and held it in your hands to see and feel the little balls of color that hung from the branch-like material much like tiny grapes on a vine.
As you would expect, I soaked up the sun until it was time to go. We went to the lake house just in time to see the sunset. Giovanni took me out on the boat for some colorful photo-ops.

We toured the star-shaped lake from corner to corner as the sun was setting over the mountain.

I think it was the first chance that I actually got to see a colorful sunset in all the time we were there. It was finally a chance to just sit back, relax and just take it all in.
It was home-made pizza night and Mrs. Bellinelli made a pizza recipe passed down to her from her mother. She has yet to share how it is done. The crust was made with potatoes. There were tomatoes, onions and sardines on top. It was a delicious pizza. Yes, with sardines. Did I mention I like sardines. Ask grandma and I am sure she will tell you how grandpa and I ate sardines right out of the can as a treat after grocery shopping.
When it was time to settle down, we sat out on the dock for a little bit to take in the night sky and a few of the many stars to be seen on a partially cloudy night. I took a night photo of the sky as it was lit up by the city to the south-east of us.

The cities are so well lit and defined in Brazil. Rochester is very small as I compared the many houses, street lights and roads.
Saturday was my last chance to explore with the camera. I went hunting for largato. (Lizards) They become much easier to see and find as I knew what to look for. I took the opportunity to photograph the many colored buterflies.

I missed the ever elusive flourescent green butterfly.

For dinner Saturday, Adriana treated us to her octopus dish.

I really enjoyed watching how she prepared the dish. She had four small octopuses to cook in a pressure cooker. That was a little different than what we are used to here. Her main pot was a heavy clay pot. She used a lot of garlic and onions that were slowly cooked in oil over the wood fire on the veranda.

As dinner cooked, Giovanni got to show us a science project from school. He had a pop bottle that he filled with baking soda and vinegar.

Oh yes, we know this formula well, but we never shot bottle rockets with the mixture. It reminded me of the water rockets Danny and I made in scouts. I think I will send Giovanni a link to build those bottle rockets too.

We spent the evening on the dock again looking at the Milky-way for one last time.

Sunday was a special day for Giovanni. It was his First Communion. I got to play photographer again. What was really great was that I got a front row seat with my big camera. The people were really helpful and wanted to make sure I got all of my best photos. I was advised that one young lady at the church was the head photographer and I could follow her to take photos. I opted for unobtrusive flash-free photos. After a while I found myself surrounded by many photographers that thought nothing of using a flash in church and my head photographer became a face in the crowd.

I must admit it got very hot in the church and I almost felt like I was going to pass out from kneeling to long in the front row.

After Giovanni's First Communion we got to go to the ice cream parlor one last time for a dish of our favorite ice cream. I am kind of partial to the passion fruit flavored ice cream and miss it now.

No more pictures please

2010-05-16T19:14:00.003-04:00

Well everybody we spent the weekend at the lake with no internet.

Just Family, Food and Fun.

And tonight we were able to go to Giovanni's First Communion.

It's going to be a long day tomorrow and I have to give back my internet connection.

Soooo.....

It is going to be sad to leave but we look forward to seeing everybody on Tuesday.

Tchau

Beijos

The Adventure Continues

2010-05-14T06:28:00.031-04:00

Thursday May 13

On Monday I thought we were going to have a little break and sit tight for a while. The plans change quickly down here and you never know what surprise is around the corner. Adriana called and said that she had a friend that could show us a few more possible sites for our wedding. But he could only do it right now. I was just starting to review my plans for a blog post and it was time to close the laptop and hit the road. This friend of the family knows everybody. He works a police officer here in Marataizes. Our first stop was a pretty rundown house. I didn't understand what was happening. He talked to someone in the house but did not enter. Next we found ourselves going up an old dirt road to another place on the hill where our guide spoke with another man. Apparently this man owned the house near the ocean where we first visited. It was a really nice place near the ocean with a fancy pool with a hottub and a water bar.

But as we looked around, we did not see a place that was really suitable for dancing. A dance floor is a must.
So our guide took us to another pousada near the Bellinelli's home. It was fancy too with a huge room with plenty of space for dancing.

To be honest, we still like the camping place on the beach. But it was a nice day to explore possibilities.

On Tuesday Elaine and I found ourselves in the kitchen with Mrs. Bellinelli. We were trying to go for a walk on the beach. We almost left Mrs. Bellinelli to clean about 50 ears of corn to prepare a special dish. But as we tried to go for a stroll on the beach, it started to rain. We opted to return to the kitchen and pitch in and help.

It became an adventure again. I had the opportunity to learn how to make Pamonha. I can't believe Mrs. Bellinelli was going to spend the morning making Pamonha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamonha) by herself.
It seemed like an incredible task for the three of us combined. First we had to remove the outer husk from the corn. Then carefully peel the nice inner husk. One of us had to wash the inner husk while Mrs. Bellinelli cut the corn from the cob.

It seemed like forever washing the tender husks. As I did that Elaine used a hand held food processor to grind the corn up. It actually took three food processors to make the ground corn. The handheld one got too hot to continue. And then we smoked Mrs. Bellinelli's blender.

Mr. Bellinelli called Adriana and she brought a third one to almost smoke. When we finished grinding up the corn Mrs. Bellinelli added sugar to the great bowl of corn and blended it again.

Once she was done with that we had to make little pouches out of the many husks and fill them with the corn mixture. It looked like a task that was going to take forever. It actually got easier after the first fifty.

We had enough food for an army.

Luckily Mrs. Bellinelli took over the cooking while Elaine and I had to go check on the lake house.
When we returned it was time to go sightseeing again. Giovanni and I went up on the roof to take some night time photos of the town.

Adriana saw what we were doing and suggested that we drive up to the top of the village on the hill and take more pictures. I really needed a a panoramic camera to really take in what we saw from the top.

At any rate it was time to go out for more barbeque. It was 9:00 pm and we were going out for dinner. This time I got smart and took the camera to record what it is like to have a Brazilian Barbeque.

We had to get up early on Wednesday. Mr. Bellinelli made arrangements with a former business associate for me to see a machine shop in Brazil. The man said he was very busy but would show us around if we got there by 8:00 am. We had to travel to Cachoeiro. It was about 40 minutes away.
When we got there Elaine told me not to expect too much, that it was a small business. Mr. Bellinelli used to do business with the man many years ago when Mr. Bellinelli worked at the sugar cane plant. This man started a business with a partner about twenty-five years ago. The name of his business is Itamil. And it isn't small either.

My first question through my interpreter (Elaine) was how many people did he employ and the answer was about 150 people. The man was really kind and let me take many pictures. He fabricates big equipment used in the granite processing industry and more. He has a lot of big machines, including some CNC equipment. Our conversations were very interesting. Thank God Elaine didn't sleep in and leave me on my own. We compared what kind of work we do. Much of what he does is large fabrication of weldments and his company ISO 9001 certified along with other certifications. At present his company does not do manufacturing like I do but the owner said he was looking to the possibilities of venturing into the toolroom type manufacturing.
After our tour of the machine shop Mr. Bellinelli took us to the sugar cane plant where he used to work. We couldn't go in because if we did Mr. Bellinelli said he would never get out of there. The plant is preparing for the processing of sugar cane. They were in test and if anything was going wrong they would ask him to help fix it. That was not something Mr. Bellinelli wanted to do. From experience I agreed and took as many photographs as I could from the outside. Apparently business is very poor these days. It is a family owned business that was operating 30 facilities across the country. When we drive along the roads, the biggest crops we see is sugar cane for miles. The business is now struggling to keep just one facility operational. They produce over a million gallons of alcohol along with sugar.

We got back to the pousada at 10:30 am. It was another beautiful day and we wanted to spend it at the beach. Elaine called Adriana and asked her to take us to the beach. Adriana jokingly said her employer was going to terminate her if she left work early. Adriana runs Mr. Bellinelli's hotel and he has been gracious enough to allow her to be our chauffer for the last couple of weeks.
Off to the beach we went again.

The tide was rising and the water was a little rough. They say the water is cold. I think it is great. I spent quite a while body surfing. I'm getting better at it now and I can ride a wave into the shore. I have learned how not to be rolled in the beach and eat sand or lose my shorts. The waves can be so powerful that they will scrub you on the floor like a rag. If you don't lose your shorts you are still guaranteed to fill them with the abasive sand.

We skipped lunch with the Bellinelli's and took a tour of the coast. We stopped at a little restaurant that was built by a lake that just bearly touches the ocean.

It is off season so all that we saw was piles of chairs along the beach and no other customers. We had a fish fry with french fries. I made the mistake of asking for ketchup. I don't know what they gave me but it was far from resembling ketchup.

We got back to the pousada with just enough time to take a shower before going to Adriana's. I thought I would be funny and mimic Elaine when she finishes her shower. The joke was on me. She took a picture of me and now everybody has seen it. I forgot to remove it from the camera before the family saw it. Oops.

On this evening we were going to Adriana's for dinner. She was making special pancakes that Luciano likes very much. I think they reminded me of crepes filled with a chicken based filling with hearts of palm, covered in a sauce made with mayonese and conac. Elaine and Adriana worked in the kitchen together for a couple of hours making this dish for the evening.

At the end of the evening, Elaine, Adriana, Giovanni and Luciano presented Mrs. Bellinelli and Adriana with gifts. They were the Mother's day gifts that they bought before Sunday. We were so busy and it was so difficult to get everyone together long enough to celebrate, that we postponed it until Wednesday night.

A day of sightseeing and waterfalls

2010-05-12T17:27:00.028-04:00

Sunday May 9, 2010

I wasn't afraid of Spiders until....

Our day started out very interesting. As if the mosquitoes and the black flies weren't enough. Giovanni had a little spider jump on his sandled foot as we were preparing to leave our rooms at the Pousada. The spider wasn't exactly little. This spider probably was about three inches across. My first thought was "Tarantula!" The spider was big enough to quickly get his attention and thank God he shook it off before it bit him. We knew it was venomous but I don't think we knew that it was the most venomous spider in the world. Accounting for over 42 percent of the insect bites in Brazil. It was a Kodak moment for sure. We looked it up on Wikipedia and personally I think my photo is better than theirs. Our little spider friend is called Aranha Armadeira.

Our first stop Sunday was a nice quiet little Italian village built around an old railroad station. Apparently the people celebrate and dress up in authentic clothes every time a train comes by. Unfortunately there was no train Sunday. But we did get to tour a couple of museum's while we were there.

Our next stop was a great waterfall that was tucked away on the hillside. It is a bit of a hike down to the waterfall. But it is well worth the trip.

This is Matilde Waterfall and it is one that you can truly walk under and appreciate its greatness. I wasn't able to take my camera down to the bottom because you are guaranteed to get wet.

Our trip was about seeing waterfalls and our next stop was a sweet little spot with a swimming area at the base of the falls. Elaine quickly jumped in and encouraged me to join her.

I felt like Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation as he jumped in an exhilarating pool with Christie Brinkley. Cold - cold - cold. I have to admit that it was a blast.
Luciano showed us the way to place to jump from on the rocks near the falls. At one time they had a rope to swing from. He and I did that a couple of times as Elaine tried to photograph us. Finally we encouraged Elaine to take the plunge.

It was time for us to head home but we had a beautiful scenic trip down the mountain.

I am having a lot of fun watching the cows along the road challenge the cars as they approach. Back home we worry about hitting a dear. Around here you have to worry about hitting a cow.

We stopped at another nursery along the way. This one was a little more interesting to me. The man had a huge variety of various kinds of plants. Like the Venus Fly Trap. Cool.

I think we go out to dinner about every other night. And tonight we stopped at a nice place called Ancoradouro.

It was my first opportunity to try a real Caipirinha. Mmm... gostoso.

It was so good, I had to have two.

I think it took about two hours for our dinner to be prepared. We arrived at about 4:30 or maybe even 5:00 pm. It was actually between lunch and dinner hour. That meant that the cook was on her break. So it was once again a great time to just and enjoy time with the family.

Elaine and I enjoyed a dish together that was called Bobó de Camarão. We all had so much food that we were able to sample each other's dishes. I didn't try too much. There is always a lot of food to be had at lunch and dinner.

Time to catch up on the last three days

2010-05-10T14:30:00.055-04:00

PEEK-A-BOO

Do you see what I see?

Monday May 10, 2010

Time to catch up on the last three days. Last week Elaine's father caught a cold. I thought maybe we brought it with us from New York. Since Elaine and I were on the back side of a cold coming down here. A day later Mrs. Bellinelli caught the cold too. Then Adriana and then of course I ended up catching a cold as well. But there was no way we were going to let a little cold interfere with our plans for the weekend.

Thursday night Mr. Bellinelli took us to a little restaurant that they called a churrascaria. It was my first real opportunity to see what a Brazilian barbecue was like. The restaurant has a grill with a very unique rotisserie. The rotisserie has two levels for roasting. Everything is cooked on long skewers. Our first dish was Mozzarella Cheese grilled on a skewer. Our server presented the grilled cheese right off the skewer onto a single platter. When we finished with the cheese, the server brought us toasted garlic bread served again on a skewer. And then when we finished the garlic bread, we were presented with the steak on the skewer. The server would slice off pieces of the steak a little at a time and return the skewer of beef to the grill to continue cooking. Dinner time is a good time to relax and talk. It is quite different than in the states. There are no crowds or lines of people waiting to be seated. And when it is time to leave, you have to ask for the bill. The waiter will not bring the bill until you ask for it. Tips are always included in the bill and so you don't leave any money on the table.

On Friday we took a trip to the street market to get some fruit and vegetables. The street market here operates much the same as the one at home. Quite often we have Hearts of Palm in a salad. You can buy it at Wegman's pickled in a small jar. I got to see how it looks on the street market before it is all cut up.

Another delicious dish here is fried manioc. Graca knows that I like it so she has made some for me a couple of times. On the street it just looks like a huge root from some tree.

At the table it looks like french fries and tastes a lot better. I would love to try manioc with some good old Heinz ketchup. Ketchup is not popular here. They have ketchup but to be honest every dish is quite salty and already has a taste that does not need supplementing.

In the evening Elaine's brother Luciano took us out to dinner at a restaurant that serves sushi once a month. We were all going out for Sushi. I was a little bit nervous at first when they told me that the restaurant was a churrascaria that served Sushi once a month. But I had nothing to worry about. The chef is very experienced in what he does and we could watch him work. In between the many special orders he took, the chef filled a refrigerated case with a variety of samples.
It would be my first chance to try a new drink called Caipisake de Kiwi. When I first started to learn Portuguese in my book called Portuguese for Dummies, I learned the phrase "Quer uma Caipirinha?" The only answer to that question is "Sim, Eu quero." Elaine has been telling me of a special drink that is called Cachaça. We can't get it at home. Cachaca is used to make Caipirinha. If I was to try to describe it then I would say it tastes much like whisky. It is pretty strong.

Saturday morning we got up early to take a trip to the mountains. Luciano came by to pick us up. It was five of us in his hybrid car. They let me ride in the front seat, so that I could take in all the sights. There is so much to see here. We drove for about two hours. Aside from the fact that I had a runny nose and a cough, I didn't say much in two hours. My mouth was open in awe at the many sights of colorful buildings in the cities between the mountains.
As you go into the mountains, you can really appreciate what they mean by "mountain grown" coffee. The mountains are filled with plantations that grow coffee on the hillside. Some of them even grow banana trees in between the rows of coffee on the mountain.

Our first stop was a plantation that opened their place up to the touring public. We could see how they dried the beans on the pavement.

The plantation had a little visitor center that sold a variety of snacks and Cachaca to make Caipirinha. Mr Bellinelli had his hands full as we prepared for the evening.

Oh yes let me say "Ky-pay-dean-nya" That's an English phonetic version of Portuguese. As time goes by the pronunciations get easier. Elaine's mother is helping me pronounce the words properly. She would read the names on the road signs aloud as we passed them. I'm beginning to understand better how to say things. I am a long way off and have just one year to learn. ¡Ay, caramba!

After our stop at the plantation we stopped at a place called Claudia's. What a nice name, don't you think? Claudia knows and remembers everybody. She greeted us at the car as we approached and invited us into her tiny little store to browse and talk.

From there we went to nursery that specialized in growing Orchids. Elaine's family loves Orchids and apparently her brother Luciano has about 100 different types. The nursery was huge. I can't say that I appreciated seeing so many plants until I heard the owner say that he paid $12,000.00 for one that he got from Mexico. In one area we saw thousands of plants and none of them were for sale. (They are the matrix that supports the supply of plants for sale)

After our tour of the nursery it was time for lunch. I don't know who was hungrier. Us or the mosquitoes? They have mosquitoes in the beach and black flies in the mountains Let me clarify that the black flies down here are known as borrachudo. They are smaller than mosquitoes and love ankles. There are many natural repellents in the mountains. I can tell you that the repellents last fifteen minutes at most. They don't work and now I will be itching for two weeks. I even have bites in places I can't show in public.

Our destination was Pedra Azul National Park. We had reservations at a pousada (bed and breakfast) that was at the base of the great rock that at times appears blue with a lizard formation on the side.

We arrived at Pedra Azul just before sunset. Now remember we are going into fall and sunset is somewhere around 5:30 pm. We had just enough time to go for a hike up to the side face of the rock.

Hiking here is just like hiking at home. Luciano enjoys hiking as much as I do and knows the area very well.

Late in the evening Adriana and Giovanni joined us in Mr. and Mrs. Bellinelli's room. We had wine and snacks that Mr. Bellinelli bought at the coffee plantation. The night ended with much laughter and happiness. Unfortunately I gave my camera a rest for the evening. Giovanni has the pictures that tell the story and Elaine just might pay to keep them from being published.

Thursday May 6, 2010 Day What? Eu Nao Sei

2010-05-06T17:49:00.020-04:00

Last night the whole family got together for dinner. Graca made a very special dinner out of tripe.

Elaine's brother Luciano joined us for dinner. Apparently Graca's tripe dish is a favorite of his and he made a special trip to have it with us. The name of the dish was Dobradinha.

Today we made bacon and eggs with homefries for Adriana and Graca. It was a bigger breakfast than they were used to. But apparently Graca liked it and said she was going to make if for breakfast at home.

For the last week everyone has been asking me if I went to the beach yet. I thought it was a bizzare question because Elaine's family lives within walking distance of the beach. We have walked that beach a few times now. This time we really went to the beach. Adriana, Elaine and I went to Elaine's beach. We took some folding chairs and a six-pack of beer at about 11:00 in the morning and stayed until about 2:30 pm.

It seems like it took us about 15 minutes to get to Elaine's beach. I was facinated by the scenery along the way.

I got a little carried away with the camera. What a beautiful place to be. It has a bar that is open weekends and summertime.

We had the fortune of being there alone without the crowds. Elaine and I took a nice long stroll down the beach and in the ocean.

As we walked along the beach we could see the turtles just off shore feeding. Their heads bobbed only momentarily and I had no hope of photographing them.

As we walked along the beach there were little holes dug in the sand and once in a while a little crab would poke its head out.

In Portuguese it is called Siri. These little crabs actually were everywhere if you looked closely.

We had to leave the beach a little after 2:00 pm. Adriana had a nice little place to show us.

It was a camp ground at the ocean with a Pousada and a restaurant with a dance floor.

It is a nice place and we are considering having the wedding there with the same caterer as we had at Mr. Bellinelli's birthday party. I am getting really excited as I listen to Adriana and Elaine plan for our wedding next year.

Day 4 Party Day

2010-05-05T14:10:00.034-04:00

Friday April 30, 2010
Today is the big day. We are having a party for Mr. Bellinelli. Many relatives are coming in from Campos. Elaine has many cousins. They will all be staying at the pousada. Did I mention that the pousada is a bed and breakfast?
Tomorrow is Dia do Trabalho. May 1st is labor day in Brazil and across much of the world. This meant that we had to do all of the grocery shopping today to be sure there was enough food for everyone over the weekend.
Before we went shopping, we had to stop at Graca's house to get about 20 cases of beer to take to the lake house. We had to do all of this without Mr. Bellinelli knowing or seeing. We had two days of celebration planned for him.
When we finished grocery shopping and delivering the groceries to the house, we had to go pick up the cake. I remember Adriana calling the lady that was making the cake. From what I gathered from the conversation she was having, the cake wasn't finished yet. Adriana gave the lady 15 minutes to have it ready for our arrival.
Buying a cake here in Brazil is very different from buying a cake back home. There is no such thing as one stop shopping here. We had to go to a lady's house to pick up the cake. Pick up the cake? Yes, it was a heavy cake weighing 10 lbs placed on a heavy, round piece of glass. It was so warm that the fruit placed on the icing was dripping and almost melting. I don't know what the icing was but it was very firm and the peaches skated across the surface as if it were a sheet of ice.
There was only one place in the car that the cake would possibly fit. The sheet had to be 24 inches around. Elaine had to hold it in her lap. She had to be very careful and hold it as if it were sitting on a Gimbal tray. Elaine doesn't make for a very good Gimbal tray. Of course Adriana and I didn't help much either. We were having so much fun teasing her. Asking her to hold the cake level so that the fruit would not slide off the top as we made jokes to make her laugh. Imagine what it would be like to be riding in a car with our Danica Patrick, aka Adriana on a motocross track holding an egg on a spoon in your mouth without using your hands. It was pretty near impossible for Elaine to hold the heavy cake and not allow the fruit to slide off the top. At one point she ended up with a little frosting pressed to her dress. To make matters worse, Adriana had to answer her phone to talk to mother while driving. Did I mention that Elaine and her sister are Italian? Yup, it was one hand on the phone and the other hand doing the talking. You had to be there to appreciate what Elaine had to go through to deliver a cake in one piece to the party house.
I remember finally settling down and trying to relax a little bit before the party. It was about 6:30 pm and we were supposed to leave Adriana's at 7:30 pm to go to mother's with Luciano (Elaine's brother) to pick them up for the nice dinner we were pretending to have at 9:00 pm. Well 7:30 pm came and went. I have no idea what Elaine and Adriana were doing to prepare for leaving. When 7:30 came I asked Elaine if we were ready to go. She said we were leaving at 8:00 pm. We didn't leave Adriana's until 8:20 pm. I wasn't even dressed for dinner yet. Mrs. Bellinelli had my shirt and pants at her house. I was to change my clothes when we got there.
Things apparently got a little more complicated too. All of the relatives from Campos had not yet arrived at the party house. We had to stall more. Elaine said she would take care of it when she and her mother needed to get ready for the party. Women are good at stalling.
I remember that we were supposed to "go out to dinner" at 9:00 pm with Luciano. At 9:10 Mr. Bellinelli was starting to wonder what was taking the ladies so long to get ready.
We finally left the posada to go to the party house. I think Luciano took a route that would not be an immediate give away to Mr. Bellinelli. Mr. Bellinelli is a wise man. I don't think you can surprise him with anything. At the same time I was in charge of photography and everyone wanted me to capture the surprised look on his face when he entered the party house. A picture like that is unique. There would only be one chance to capture it. I don't think I got that exact image at the precise moment. What I saw was a man full of happiness at each greeting from the many friends and relatives.
I thought it was going to be easy for me to stay busy all night just taking photographs. I put myself in the role as the photographer I once was many years ago when I photographed wedding receptions. But it wasn't too long before I gave my camera to Giovanni to take over. I think that was the best move I could have ever made. Give the camera to a young enterprising individual full of energy and excitement and you soon find that he takes better pictures than you do. Giovanni captured the moments very well from angles that I could not ever achieve.

It was a wonderful night for dancing.

Unfortunately I have two left feet and I am not the only one. Many of the cousins that were at the party didn't dance either. I think Adriana and Elaine had a wonderful idea when they asked the party host to provide male dancers for the evening. There were nine men catering the party. The host made sure that five of the servers that worked that evening just danced. This would be the first time he paid his servers to dance. These guys danced the whole night. Let me tell you it was a long night full of dancing.
Early on Elaine introduced me to Babu.

Babu is a great friend that Elaine met in college. Babu teaches and speaks English. He and I talked most of the night as each of us did not dance. We enjoyed standing outside and at the bar talking about good times, business and Elaine. :)

As time passed, I was encouraged to dance. Elaine took me to Graca and said Graca will teach you how to dance. So with much patience Graca showed me how to dance Forró.

After much dancing and snacks all night, it was time for Mr. Bellinelli to cut the cake. We sang happy birthday and watched with amusement as he tried to blow out the candles that Elaine brought with her. Of course the candles were the kind that continually re-lite.

Mr. Bellinelli reached the point where the only way he could put the candles out was to crush them on the floor.

Bela and I did dance together a few times after Graca, Mrs. Bellinelli and a few cousins tried to help me find the rhythm. I was envious of her as I watched her dance. Bela is so full of life and looked wonderful in her colorful dress and sexy, high heal dancing shoes.

The dancing went on into the early morning hours. I think it was a very special treat for Mr. Bellinelli and the whole family.

Isto e Forro'

Sooo you think you can dance.

Day 3 Thursday April 29, 2010

2010-05-05T07:47:00.020-04:00

Today Elaine and Adriana were going out to each get a facial in preparation for Friday's party. We sat down together for a nice breakfast in Adriana's kitchen. Graca offered a fruit called Caqui for me to try. It wasn't quite ripe but it tasted very good. It leaves an after-taste that makes your mouth feel very furry when the fruit is not ripe. With that said, Graca had to show me how to clear the feeling in my mouth. Basically you need to roll your tongue over every surface and suck at the same time. I found myself doing this for quite a while.
I must admit I drink a lot of coffee. Back home I don't think about it much but everything is much smaller here. The silverware is half the size of anything we have back home. I know that serving sizes are supposed to be much smaller than anything I am used to. Here I have half a cup coffee several times over at one sitting.
I wont forget the moment after breakfast and three days into our trip when Bela said to me, "Dear there is something I forgot to tell you..... You don't flush the toilet paper down the toilet. If you are brave you can use the sprayer next to the toilet. But the toilet paper goes in the garbage can next to the toilet." I think this was the moment I first reflected on how Ben Stiller felt when he first met the parents and heard the rules of the house in the movie "Meet the Parents". I wont dwell on this but I will tell you that when I first arrived in Rio and used the restroom, I thought the toilets were funny shaped and the seats were rather large with wide square openings. Now I know why. LOL
I had the opportunity to have the house to myself and explore while Elaine and Adriana were away. It wasn't long before Elaine's father showed up and asked me if I wanted to take a tour of the neighborhood. I think Elaine called him and asked him to keep me busy. She seems to worry that I am bored. There really hasn't been time to be bored and I think she gave me a great idea when she said I should blog about our trip.
We walked around the outside of the Motel and saw what it looked like during the day. Mr. Bellinelli showed me his garden on the other side of the street from the Motel. It is quite a little bit of property with a wall that stands more than 7 feet high to protect it. Everywhere you go, you will see that the properties are gated and locked.
The garden I saw was much different than what one would expect. It has several different types of fruit bearing trees. I can't recall all of the fruits. I do recall that Mr. Bellinelli showed me two types of Manga. Manga is also known as Mango back home. And of course he has a coconut tree.
It became a very busy day as Adriana and Elaine had to prepare for the party. Our first stop was at the Posada to have lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Bellinelli. After lunch Mrs. Bellinelli gave me a tour of the Posada. The posada is a bed and breakfast. Right now it is off season and the posada is closed. The posada has about 10 rooms for customers. Every room has a tv and its own bathroom. Some rooms are layed out for families and some are layed out just for couples. Some rooms have a beach view. The posada is about 300 feet from the beach.
After we finished lunch we had to meet with the man that was organizing everything for the party on Friday.
He has a very nice layout with a dining area next to the dancing area which had a nice little pool next to it. The place is huge. I was able to take photos of several plants and flowers on his property.
When we finished with the meeting we went shopping in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim. Back home Elaine bought a beautiful dress for the party.
We decided to go to the mall and get a nice shirt for me along with a few other things while we were there.
Our first stop was at the bathing suit boutique. Oh yes, we both bought another bathing suit. This time though I got a more fashionable sunga. (Trivail fact: According to Ultralinqua on my I-touch, sunga is defined as jockstrap) The speedo's come in basically two sizes. You might say one is like a bakini and the other is regular size. Of course, I needed the bakini sunga. Down here people aren't self-conscious about what they are wearing.
Our next stop was a men's clothing store. I needed a nice shirt for Friday night. The people here are so nice and so helpful. The clerk readily brought me some nice shirts to look at. I got sticker shock when I saw the first price tag said R$300.00. After a little bit we did find the right shirt. And it only cost R$165.00.
Our final stop was at a shoe store where the manager knows everyone by name and never forgets a customer. We stopped here to get a pair of sandals for me. I spend every day just barefoot. When we go out somewhere I slip on my flip-flops. Everyone just wears flip-flops all the time. But in the event that one could anticipate a lot of walking, sandals are the prefered shoe of choice.
It took us a little while to find the right sandal. In fact I think it took us more than an hour. We found the right shoes but that store didn't have my size. So they sent an employee by motorcycle to pick the shoes up at another store. At the same time Adriana had to take Giovanni to the doctor for an apointment. Giovanni has migrane headaches and they are trying accupuncture to ease the pain.
While Adriana and Giovanni were at the doctor's, Elaine and I sat at a cafe in the mall and enjoyed a few refreshing beers as we sat and talked. Later Adriana and Giovanni joined us for a little time and conversation. Apparently Giovanni really enjoys having Pao de queijo as a treat when they go to the mall.
It was about 9:30 when we returned to Marataizes. We joined Elaine and Adriana's parents at a favorite pizza place. The pizza here is very much like the pizza at home, except that we have a few choices not found at home. Our first pizza had Hearts of Palm on it.
It wasn't long before Elaine's brother Luciano joined us. We sat street side enjoying pizza, wine and fine conversation. Obviously I don't talk much but at times I can follow Elaine's conversations as she talks about our experiences. I don't know what time it was but I would guess that we didn't leave the pizza shop much before 11:00.

Jumping ahead before I forget

2010-05-04T19:50:00.015-04:00

May 4, 2010
The day is not finished but my memory is starting to slip. Today is one day after our anniversary. Elaine and I started dating on May 3rd, 2009. Her sister Adriana suggested yesterday that we have some private time at the lake house after it was cleaned and the party company picked up their materials from Saturday's picnic at the lake house.
After lunch with the family we stopped at Graca's house and picked up Tira (sp). Tira was going to clean the lake house for $R30. It was Adriana, Elaine, Giovanni, Tira and myself all going to the lake house in a pickup truck made by Fiat. It is a very small pickup truck. Giovanni, Tira and I rode in the back. Quite often you will see people riding in the back of pickup trucks standing and holding the role bar.
While Tira cleaned, Elaine and Adriana enjoyed the sunshine on the dock of the beach. Giovanni and I went exploring. He gave me a fence post to fence post tour of the property. Giovanni knows the property well. I think he is very interested in the vegetation that is on the property. He pointed out several different plants to me and told me their name. Apparently he knows the Latin name of each of them.
I found it kind of funny at one point as he was showing the way. Giovanni pointed to the root of a tree and said "alta." I had been photographing everything he pointed to. This time he looked at me kind of funny as I pointed my camera towards the tree root that he was trying to say be careful crossing it because it is rather tall.
Along our tour I heard a funny noise. I looked at Giovanni and tried to ask what is that noise. He said "lagarto." In the way he said it I first pictured a cat. That didn't make sense. Cat would have been O gato. At this point I had to envision what I thought made the noise. I saw one of these creatures on the road as we entered the property days earlier. largato means lizard. I was dying to photograph one. And after speaking with Elaine and Adriana during the middle of our tour, I asked Giovanni to help me find another largato to photograph. He said they are very fast but he took me to exactly the place where we would most likely find one. It was a large tree on the west side of the property. We could hear two of them chirping away. The sun was setting at this point and the lizards were looking for refuge as it went down. Oh so cool.
When the work was complete, Adriana, Giovanni and Tira left us to ourselves waiting still for the moving van to come and pick up the tables and supplies left from Saturday's picnic. The truck finally came around 6:30. It is dark at 6:30 here this time of year. When the truck left, Elaine and I had to take a little walk in the dark to lock the gates. I think that we probably had to walk about a half of a mile out to lock the farthest gate.
When we returned we continued to enjoy a bottle of good wine and a light snack. Our plan to prepare pasta and shrimp for dinner had been postponed as it became late and we were both too tired to cook.
The nights can be rather cool here this time of year. We had the fan going all night. You don't have a mosquito problem when the air is circulating as much as it was last night. I don't think I slept too well and at one point I tried to turn the fan off. But in the dark and in a drowsy state of being, I only got it to a medium setting.
We got up at 9:30. I was hungry and in need of a good cup of coffee. Today was to be special. We bought bacon and eggs at the supermarket yesterday. I haven't had bacon and eggs since we left Rochester on Monday morning. Buying bacon here is very interesting too. It doesn't come pre-sliced. You only get a little slab of it. Slicing it is completely up to the cook.
The really nice thing here in paradise is that clothing is optional. But I had to put an apron on to cook the bacon. Not a good thing to go without when the grease spatters everywhere.
Elaine and I enjoyed a nice breakfast out on the veranda. Bacon and eggs, coffee and a neat little toasted bread that is a common around here.
It is a beautiful clear day here at the lake. We spent the morning and mid-day on the beach soaking up the sun. I may be sorry later. I have turned a little red. We decided to skip lunch for now. Elaine is enjoying a nice little nap in her hammock and I am trying to catch up on remembering what we did over the last couple of days.
Well I am getting use to the beer down here. I am going to have one more and join Elaine in the hammocks. It is 2:30 and Adriana is coming at 5:00 to pick us up. A nice little nap would be a good thing before we have to get dressed. Oh soooo cool.

Day 2 of the adventure

2010-05-02T10:23:00.017-04:00

Wednesday April 28, 2010
Feeling well rested, I woke up eary in hopes to photograph the sunrise somewhere over the lake. It turned out to be an overcast morning and there was no chance of that. The early morning to myself gave me the opportunity to start writing this journal. I have to take notes on my I-Touch as memorable events happen because it could be days after that I have the chance to recall and write about the events. There is so much happening every day and I am now three days behind on writing.
There is one thing I love in the early morning and that is having a nice hot cup of coffee. Down here the coffee makers are much smaller. I would say that they are half the size of a 12 cup coffee maker in the U.S. But when one makes a full pot of coffee, it will hold 24 cups. I had 24 cups of coffee before the girls woke up and joined me on the veranda for breakfast. Breakfast here is comprised of a little bit of creamy cheese, bread and butter and coffee. The coffee is typically one part coffee, three parts milk and a few drops of some kind of liquid sugar. We don't have scrambled eggs with bacon and toast. Breakfast is always light. Followed by a lunch that I would compare to a typical dinner back home.
I was dying to take another shower in the morning. It is the fall down here and the weather is supposedly cooler. It actually felt quite humid and one might find themselves in need of a shower a couple of times a day. At the lake house there are two showers. One is inside and one is outside. On this day I chose to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the outdoor shower. Yes it does have it's privacy tucked away in the back corner of the house.

There was much to do today as Elaine and Adriana had to prepare for the party on Friday. Our first stop was at Adriana's house. We are staying with Adriana and her son Giovanni this week and so brought all of our luggage to her place first.

Upon arrival we were greated by the housekeeper, Graca. Graca is a very kind lady and as Elaine and Adriana have so much to do together, I have found myself spending time just talking with Graca. Graca doesn't speak any English and I might as well say I don't speak Portuguese. But when you are face to face, you will find that spoken words are not the only thing used to communicate an expression. Graca quickly showed me how she works in the kitchen as she was preparing chicken for the evenings dinner. I watched closely as she cut up onions and garlic and mixed them with many bite-size cuts of chicken. She would show me each of the ingredients and tell me the name of them. I was able to recognize and can only recall frango and cebola. That would be chicken and onion. I don't remember the name for garlic at the moment and the white pepper she used. All of these ingredients were mixed together with 2 cups of white wine. The marinade was left to soak until our late night dinner.
When the work was complete, Graca offered to give me a rooftop tour of the place. We went up one flight of stairs to an area that overlooked the house and the motel that Elaine's father owns. On the roof there are several clothes lines hanging. This can be seen on every house in the area. They don't have clothes dryers here. Everyone hangs their clothes out to dry. Furthermore every rooftop has at least two huge water tubs on it. At first I thought it might be where the days hot water came from as they bake in the sun. There is no such thing as a hot water tank down here either. They have little electric heaters attached to the shower heads for hot water. After speaking with Elaine's father I learned that the tubs are just reservoirs for all of their water. There are so many people here that at times water can be in short supply. The tanks maintain a supply in periods of high demand.
After my tour with Graca we went to Elaine's parents house. Today was her father's birthday and we all wished him a happy birthday. We sat and had lunch together. It is a tradition to make lunch the biggest meal of the day. We always have a lot of food at midday. It wasn't long before it was time to hit the road again. Giovanni had school and it was time to pick him up. I went with Adriana and picked up Giovanni to go grocery shopping. I was rather excited to go out and see what a supermarket was like here in Marataizes.
In true "gringo" form I took my heavy camera with me. It was a dead giveaway that I am a tourist. Nevertheless I kept it tucked under my arm and asked Giovanni to assist me in getting some mosquito repelent and a few other items. Apparently we didn't start off very well. He took me to a cosmetic isle with spray cans that at first glance I thought the can said Rogaine. I looked at Giovanni and said I don't think this is mosquito repelant. He then realized what I was trying to say and took me to the right place and we got our repelant. Upon our trip back to where his mother was shopping, I was stopped by one of the Supermercado employees. She asked me if I wanted to sample some of her coffee. Much in the same way that someone in Wegmans would do. I politely responded in my brief, broken Portuguese way. I tasted the coffee and tried to say that it tasted sweet. It was clear the clerk did not understand me. So I quickly turned to Giovanni and asked him in Portuguese to help me. He smiled and shook his head no. I groaned. Then the clerk asked me if he didn't speak Portuguese. Oh so funny. I am the one standing there without a clue and I just passed off as the one that knew what they were doing. LOL. The next time this situation happened was at the checkout counter. Giovanni and I were unloading the shopping cart as Adriana was still shopping. I got a little wiser this time when the clerk asked me a question. I said "Sou Americano e nao falo Portugeus" and turned to Giovanni and said "me ajuda." I left the work to him as we went through the checkout line.
Around here I find that there are many people to assist you in every way. We had a lot of groceries and it took two attendants to push our loaded carts to Adriana's car. They provide door to door service. As I am thinking of it, they actually will deliver your goods if you ask them to.
When shopping in Brasil, there are several places you need to go to get what you need. We had to go to two supermarkets to get our food. Apparently the first store had the best prices and the second store had the best produce. I took a little self guided tour of the second store without my camera this time. I really wanted to see what it was like without people starring at me. I remember most what I saw in the meat case. There are large slabs of beef and other various meats. At one end of the case I saw hanging, what I can only say resembled a cow's tongue. Below it layed legs of some kind of cow, cut at the knee. It didn't look very appetizing.
We spent a little time in the produce department. It gave me a chance to see the many different fruits and what they are called. Don't ask me to remember. The only way I remember anything is if we are actually sitting down at the table and start talking about the specific food we are eating.
I got to check out the liquor department in the store as well. It gave me chance to look at prices and get a feel for how expensive things really are. There aren't many brands here that are the same as home obviously but there were some. They have Bicardi Rum, and if I recall correctly it costs R$95.00 for a liter. Depending on how you exchange your money that could be the equivalent of about $45.00. You see, if you want to exchange U.S. currency for Brazilian currency there are a few ways of doing it. I went to my bank at home and asked for an exchange. The bank can do it and it takes a couple of days to do. Plan ahead at least one week. I received R$760.00 for $520.00. Or you can wait until you are in the JFK Terminal to exchange your dollars. At that point we found they were paying R$1.45 for $1.00. Your best choice is to wait until you are in Brazil and can find someone who buys U.S. dollars. We haven't done it yet but I understand we could get R$1.75-R$1.80 for $1.00. Who knows?
In the evening we had a chance to settle down and relax at Adriana's house. Adriane prepared a nice dinner with the chicken that Graca marinaded earlier. Mr. and Mrs. Bellinelli came over to join us for dinner. We had spagetti with a red sauce along with the baked chicken. And thank God we had a bottle of red wine. I prefer the red wine over the beer any time.
After dinner Elaine wanted her father out of the house as she and Adriana prepared to give him gifts. She asked father to give me a tour of the motel. He gladly obliged. We don't talk much but this time I was supposed to stall and ask lots of questions as I was on my tour. Giovanni went with us. He helped me stall. Mr. Bellinelli introduced me to the working staff as we encountered them in the kitchen. He explained that I was a visitor and all I could see was a look of confusion on some of their faces. Mr. Bellinelli has a nice little motel with about 16 rooms. Some of the rooms are really nice. Like any other motel or hotel, the costs of the rooms vary depending on the comfort level desired. His best room had a bathroom with a hottub and shower that was larger than the main quarters of the room. I'm not sure but I think it costs R$19.95 per hour at the Lua Nua. Mr. Bellinelli had a lot to show me. Even his little office in the back with a monitor attached to 3 security cameras.
Later Elaine got the gifts for the family out. I was really pleased that all of the gifts survived the trip down. Elaine gave her father a new fishing pole. It didn't fit in the suit case without bending it. It's a good pole with lots of flexibility. Elaine gave Giovanni a nice, big remote control truck. And with these granite floors and Giavanni's experienced hands, the Bigfoot truck is a lot of fun in the hallway.
I must say that I am very tired after a full day here. I met a friend of Elaine's the other night and he described best what it is like when Elaine comes home. He said "it is like a tornado around here when Elaine is in town." Everybody wants to see her and she is on the go all the time. I found myself taking advantage of the invite to go to bed early as Elaine and Adriana cleaned the kitchen. Bed's here are little bit different than those at home. I have become spoiled by our bed at home. Elaine's sister let us use her bed and I have to say that I think the furniture company forgot to give Adriana the mattress that was supposed to come with the bed set. I was exhausted and was asleep in minutes.

Day 1 Continued....

2010-04-30T11:51:00.009-04:00

There are many helpful people at the terminal in Rio. I have no idea how, but Elaine chose the right people to speak to and guide us to our next point in the adventure. We had to go to the ticket transfer counter to get the next flight towards our destination. I don't know where he came from but I found us escorted by a man that took over the movement of our backage. We had three large suitcases (each weighing 49.5 lbs) and two carry on bags. Up until that point I was very guarded over who touched our baggage and where it went. I was so tired that I didn't care anymore how things went. The man loaded all of our baggage onto a cart and he could have taken it anywhere as far as I was concerned at that point.
Elaine had to get us new tickets that would get us to Victoria. I had to smile and entertain our attendant. Smile and entertain? Yeah I am sure I was very entertaining. I was very proud of the shirt I was wearing with the words "Projeto Tamar" on it. Our assistant noted it and asked me if I spoke Portuguese. I responded with the only words I know when someone asks me that. I said "Um puquinho" These words always strike up a conversation. This time the man continued to ask if I spoke Spanish. My response was "Un poco." I tried to say that I speak English in Portuguese. It came out something like this, "Fala Ingles." Now that might sound like an intelligent response but I really should have said "Falo Ingles." But my response led the attendant to tell me that he spoke some English and he got to practice his foreign language skills.
At this point though Elaine was becoming very intent and aggravated as we had to make choices. We had three choices. Our first was to stay in Rio until 3 pm and wait for the next flight to Victoria. Our other two choices were to fly to different cities and catch a flight to Victoria. She told me of these choices and I don't recall what she said exactly. What I heard was basically sit and wait somewhere. I was looking for adventure and that choice was to take a taxicab to the other airport in Rio. If I was traveling alone, I would not have chosen the adventurous sightseeing option. Putting my confidence in Elaine and our trusty assistant, we chose the taxicab tour through Rio De Janeiro on the busiest highway I ever saw. On these roads it is truly bumper to bumper traffic three lanes across at speeds that leave no room for error. I can throw my "two second rule" out the window and forget the brakes as well. To survive on this expressway one must approach it like they are playing a game of chess. Think two moves ahead, don't stop and get out of the way of oncoming motorcycles that have the right of way between the lanes of traffic. Motorcyclists have the right of way unless you want to sacrifice a mirror to the angry kick by one of them as our driver so explained.
We had a very kind taxi driver or let me say a very wise taxi driver. It took us a little time to get a taxicab where the driver was willing to take us to the other side of the city. Our fine assistant spent a little time trying to convince a couple of drivers to take us. His first choice was an operator with an SUV type cab. It had plenty of room in it for our nearly 200 pounds of luggage. But the operator chose to take the people behind us with much more luggage. The second choice was a cab with very little room for luggage and the operator was looking for a much simpler job. Our fine assistant was a bit aggressive in trying to find the right taxicab. He finally did find the right one. The man had a good eye for tourists with money and was very accommodating all the way to the next airport. He deserved what I thought was a good tip. I handed the man 20 Reals. (Reais/R$) As time goes on I am learning that 20 Reais does not go very far and perhaps the tip I gave him was cheap.
We arrived at Santos Dumont Airport at 8:15 am. Our next flight was supposed to leave at 9:30 am. It gave us a little time to relax. Of course I say that our next flight was supposed to leave at 9:30 am. But of course I jinxed our flight early on. When we were sitting in the terminal at JFK airport I thought I would be funny. (You know me). I walked from one side of the terminal to the other to see if our plane arrived at the gate. Upon returning to Elaine I said to her "the plane has a flat tire." This didn't help our situation in the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio De Janeiro. The plane we were supposed to take to Victoria actually did have a flat tire. Oh so surreal. You have got to be kidding me. They told us that it only takes 8 minutes to change a tire. Well it took 8 minutes to give us all new tickets for boarding and 30 minutes to tell us we going to board a different airplane. Elaine and I had to laugh at this point. We really were exhausted. It had been at least 24 hours now with very little sleep and whole lot of frustration.
I believe we arrived Victoria at about 1:30 pm. We were supposed to be there around 8:30 am. Elaine's mother and sister were there waiting for us. It was a very small airport. There are no terminal gates at this airport. We disembarked the plane right on the taxi-way for the planes.
It didn't take us long to get our luggage onto the cart and out to the car and hit the road. Hit the road we did. Elaine's sister is practicing for the Indy 500 and has been showing us how good she has become. If she could find a few sponsors I think she could be the next Danica Patrick. The speed limit between Victoria and Espirito Santo seems to be about 60 Kilometers per hour on average. This would seem to be understandable because the roads are in very poor condition. There are many curves and many potholes. Speed bumps are strategically placed everywhere. I think our "Danica" has memorized the location of all of them and knows precisely when to slow down, what angle to approach and just how fast she can go over them. I have a very good view of the dashboard from the back seat of the car and I could easily observe that our chauffer never travels at a rate of less than 100 kph. If the signs say 40 kph then I would expect that we will be traveling at at rate of 120 kph. But I do have respect for Adriana and so do the motorcyclists. In Rio the cars get out of the way of the many motorcyclists that control the road. In Espirito Santo the motorcyclists get out of Adriana's way.
I don't think we were on the road for more than 10 minutes and Elaine said to me that we have to stop to get some beer. I thought we were buying some beer for the party. We stopped at a gas station to fill the car. Which by the way costs R$165.00 to do. Convert that to U.S. dollars and that is about the equivalent of, let's just say $100.00. And so at $2.91 per gallon in the U.S. we should not complain.
Elaine and I went into the store which I would compare to a 7-Eleven and purchased 3 beers and 1 Coke. The beer here is called Skol. I have my limits as to how much beer I would drink back home. Here in Espirito Santo, I have a much tighter limit as to how much beer I drink and it isn't because the beer is stronger. No far from it. The beer is much weaker and I might compare it to drinking water. That would be unfair and unrealistic because I have had beer that tastes similar to the Skol beer in Brasil. It was a fine, well aged brew that was unintentionally aged for several years and still had the label on it called Milwaukee's Best.
I don't recall how long it took us to get to the lake house from Victoria. It was supposed to be a two hour drive. It was probably much less. We went from an incredibly large city with traffic everywhere to a secluded place secured by a series of gated fences along the road paved in sand and dirt.
We were greeted by Elaine's father and nephew at the lake house. They would have been at the airport to join us but the little car had all it could take to bring the four of us and 175 pounds of luggage to them. It was finally time to relax.
Our first objective was to go jump into the lake. Yes after 26 hours in the same clothes it doesn't matter what you wear next. I gladly put on my Speedo. After all if Elaine's nephew and father can do it, so can I. It only took a few minor adjustments with Elaine's help and I was fitting in the best I could.
We went swimming with both of Elaine's parents, her sister and her nephew. We had a continuous flow of open cans of beer compliments of Elaine's mother. She provided us with a fresh snack that one would marginally compare to pork rinds found in the snack isle at Wegman's. I say marginally compare because these fried treats were a tasty delight. The commercial product could never compare.
I think Elaine could have stayed in the lake all night. But at some point we found ourselves sitting on the veranda as her mother was cooking (?) in the kitchen and her father was cooking steak, chicken, chicken hearts and sausage on the grill. We spent the evening just talking and eating.
Oh yeah and down here the mosquitos love New Yorkers. OMG...I don't recall ever getting bit so much in such a short time frame. I was tethered to a cell phone that needed re-charging as I was calling Mark. I could not move from the space I was standing just off the edge of the veranda. In five minutes I had more bites than I could count with one that swelled up to the size of a dime. I had at that point just remembered the one thing we forgot. Elaine bought 2 cans of OFF prior to our trip and I left them in the garage back home. LOL
I found myself very tired and took refuge in the hammock that was on the veranda. I fell asleep and missed quite a bit of the conversations that were going on into the evening. Elaine's parents took Giovanni (Elaine's nephew) home as Elaine, Adriana and I finally went to bed. Thus ending our first day in Brasil

Did you enjoy your flight?

2010-04-29T08:33:00.004-04:00

Tuesday April 27, 2010
The adventure begins.
We started off at Rochester International Airport at about 10:15 in the morning. That would be plenty of time for our 11:30 flight to JFK Airport in New York. But of course as luck would have it, our flight was delayed. Delayed? Delayed indefinitely. It never fails. Our flight was delayed without any guidance, due to weather and traffic at JFK. As you can imagine my nerves were already on edge. Elaine of course was mildly aggravated and expected these little set backs.
As I am such a figity person, and endured enough delay without guidance I chose to walk over to posting board to see if there was an update. On my way I encountered a special friend to Elaine and I. It was Lesley. Lesley is actually the person that brought Elaine and I together. Lesley set up the meetup group Rochester Learns to Cook. And of course as you all know it was at Leslie's place that Elaine and I first worked together as partners in the kitchen.
It was great having someone like Leslie at the airport to talk with. We passed the hour and a half delay so quickly talking to Leslie. And yes, as you can imagine and know that talking with me can be (to say the least) an experience. We shared many stories since our first encounter:)
At any rate it was such a bizarre experience to encounter Leslie at the airport and fly with her to New York City.
We got into JFK at some point near 3:00 pm. Just in time to check in with the immigration department for international travel. This would be the next step where my nerves would be set on edge. To me it felt like I just stepped out of the country. The language changes and the signs are all in Portuguese. I felt intimidated just by the looks of some of the people traveling with us. I am so grateful that the person that assisted us in our check-in was so kind. He spoke both English and Portuguese fluently and readily joked with Elaine and I in both languages as he eased our tension. We passed swiftly through the check-in. I won't say so much for the security check point that was run by the U.S. Security.
We approached the security check point and anticipated the procedures we were to follow. There was a security guard belting out instructions to the travelers as if we were part of his platoon. The platoon leader belted out "Remove all types of footware. There should be nothing on your feet. If there is something on your feet then it is probably still alive and will kill you...." Bela looked at me and asked if he was joking. I was in no mood at the time for someone joking with me. To me his timing was poor. To Elaine he was just a man tired of droning out the same phrase every day all day long and was just looking to liven up the atmosphere.
We finally left JFK Airport around 7:30 pm. This would suggest that we were going to arrive in Rio De Janeiro after our connecting flight left. Go figure.
Our seats were at the back of the bus (airplane) or as Elaine said, "in the kitchen." Sitting in the tail of an Airbus A330 is not the most comfortable place to be. On take off, the tail of the airplane wobbles like a 'duck's ass." It feels like the plane is falling apart. The tail of the plane has the kitchen as well as the restrooms. All night long you get to hear the nonstop activity in both areas.
I will say that the airplanes are cool as they have free audio and video entertainment for our personal viewing and listening pleasure. I wanted so much to (as Elaine would say) immerse myself in the culture. We both watched a documentary put together by Marissa Monte about the origins of Samba. The documentary gave me a completely different perspective of what Samba music was all about. I think we always picture beautiful dancers parading in the street during Carnival with lively upbeat music. The documentary gave me the impression that the songs written for Samba music schools tell a story. And quite often the story is a sad story of love and a hard life.
As for the rest of the night on our trip. I thought I would be wise and taking a sleeping pill. At that point we had eight hours to go. This wonderous little pill keeps me flat for at least 6 hours. Oh did I say flat? LOL. When it comes to flying there is nothing flat about it. And because I was not flat, I did not sleep through the insane flight. I think the only time I felt really comfortable was when Bela let me rest my legs on her lap. Beyond that it was a bone crushing experience.
Much to my surprise though, I did sleep some. I woke up at about 4:00 am and turned on the cool map video feed of our flight position on my personal console. We made up lost time and were going to arrive one hour before our connecting flight would leave for Victoria.
Oh I failed to mention that they fed us dinner and breakfast on this flight. I had something that resembled chicken breast and rice for dinner. The chicken reminded me of chicken I have had in the past where dinner wasn't so important and quite often left in the oven near to the point it could have passed off as a jerky treat for the dog. I also had a glass of red wine with my dinner. Yes it was red wine. It's funny too as I remember asking for my glass of whine. The flight attendants spoke Portuguese to all of the passengers around me. I keep trying to practice my Portuguese. I keep my phrases brief and clear. I said "vinho por favor." The attendant quickly responded with a word I took to mean white wine. My poor communication skill was a dead giveaway as I confusingly looked to Bela and she quickly spoke up and clarified to the attendant in plain English "red."
Never mind the breakfast they fed us on the flight. At the moment I can't remember what it was.
Did I mention we both caught a cold last week. Both of us are congested to this day. The congestion doesn't help either on long flights. I have trouble with high altitude flights and narrow passages in my ear canals. I lose my hearing and the pain is excruciating. I love to travel but I wish I could keep the flights at 10,000 feet not 39,000 feet above sea level.
Well we did get to Rio De Janeiro at about 6:00 am. Our next flight was leaving at 6:30. We had to go through customs again. The line for non-citizens in Rio is very short. The line for citizens is obviously very long. And of course everyone is tired and the attendants don't want any crap from anyone. I had no idea what was going on and was very afraid to be anywhere without Elaine. We stood together for a few minutes in the resident line. Of course then she suggested to me to talk to the head attendant and ask for special treatment as I am a visitor about to miss my connecting flight. Oh yeah that went over like a lead balloon. But it was a good idea. So I stepped out of the line and prepared my sob story as I walked down the long corridor as if I was Dorothy in "The Wizard of OZ" as she was going to see the wizard for the first time. I got half way to the window and the "Wizard" was too far away to quietly ask him for his assistance. It was time for me to practice Portuguese again. Oh yeah and how do I do this without drawing attention to myself in a way that doesn't land me face down on the floor with a gun to my head. ( Don't worry, the security in Rio isn't that scarey.) So all I could think of was which word do I use? Desculpe or com licensa? I think I chose desculpe and then in a non-threatening way (so I believe) I waved to the man with the radio. He quickly approached. I began with "I am a visitor here with my fiance." I quickly showed him my ticket with a flight that was boarding in ten minutes. He got on the radio and spoke with someone. Looking at me he then said "You cannot make this flight, I am transferring you to...." I got real nervous now. It sounded like the attendant just changed my flight plans. I had to repeat how important it was for me to have my fiance by my side. The radio attendant looked to the head attendant and waved him over. He slowly approached and only nodded his head to me to acknowledge that he was prepared to hear my pathetic story. He looked at me with disapproving eyes. I found myself moving to the next mode of desperation and told him I was very nervous and needed to keep my fiance by my side to explain what we needed. I pointed far off in the crowded line of people and suggested that she was too far away to speak with. At that point he spoke (in words that I could not understand) to the man with the radio. They exchanged some words and then looked at me and just nodded with approval. I got permission to get Elaine to the front of the line with me. By the way, being at the front of the line and a visitor doesn't mean a thing. When I started there were two lines for non-residents. As we approached the window, the head attendant closed one of them to non-residents and began to use it as the window for residents only. He quickly stopped the Japanese lady as she approached the window and sent her back to the line that at this point only had Elaine and I in it.
By the time we got through customs, the plane we were supposed to take was already loaded. Our baggage wasn't even in the terminal yet. At this point I found myself being the one relaxed and Elaine was the one stressing out. It was a nice change of pace. I was at the mercy of all who were around me. There was nothing I could do to change my situation. I was beginning to have fun. Elaine had to do all of the speaking. I just smiled.

I will continue with the saga...

But that's all for now.

Bags are packed and we are ready to go

2010-04-25T15:57:00.000-04:00

Yippy